Improvement in buttons



I. JOHAN.4 BUTToNs.

No, 194,872I Patented Sept. 4,1877.

y f wml/7M N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER. WASHlNGTON, Dv C.

UNITED FFI-OE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUTTONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 194,@72, dated September 4, 1877; application led June 8, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB JOHN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Button-Fasteners, of which the following' is a specification This invention relates to buttons for clothing and other articles, which are adapted to be used without any button-holes in the articles to which they are applied.

lIhe invention consists in the combination, with a button provided with a shank, having at its end a hook, and in addition thereto a laterally-extending toe, of a clasp composed of a box provided in its face with a slot permitting the insertion of the hook or shank of the button, and having a lip for engaging with the said hook, and provided also with a spring for e'ecting and maintaining the engagement of the hook with said lip, and uniting the button and clasp, whereby I produce a very neat, simple, and cheap button-fastener, the parts of which may be united without any twisting ofthe button proper.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of a buttonfastener embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the button proper, and the shank thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan or top view of the clasp with which the button proper engages. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan or View of the under side of such clasp; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the button-fastener, illustrative of its application to an article which it is to fasten.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

This button-fastener is composed of two parts-viz., a button proper, A, and a clasp, B-which are severally to be attached to different parts of an article, such, for instance, as a garment, to be fastened by them. The button proper, A, is provided with a shank, c, which may be made flat, and terminates at the outer end in an outwardly-extending hook, d, beyond which there is a laterallyextending wedge-shaped toe, a. The clasp B consists of a box-like piece, having` in its face a rectangular slot or opening, C, which may be ofthe same width throughout its extent, and which at one end is provided with an inwardly-extending lip or projection, b. Underneath the slot or opening C the clasps said box-like piece is provided with a flapspring, consisting of a strip of spring metal fastened in place at but one end, and downwardly-bowed between its ends.

The button A and clasp B, which I have described, may be secured to the parts of a garment or other article to be fastened with them by means of prongs f, the clasp B being arranged on the outside of the part to which it is to be applied, and the shank of the button A being inserted in and through the part on which it is to be used.

To secure the button to the clasp, the toe a is inserted through the slot or Opening within the clasp B, and is wedged or pushed past the lip or projection b until the hook d arrives opposite the said lip, whereupon the spring e throws the button outward, and causes the hook d to engage with the said lip or projection b. The slot or opening C and the lip or projection ot' the clasp then hold the shank from being disengaged, and the button and clasp are securely united together. n

To unfasten the button and clasp, the button is rocked forward toward that end of the slot or opening C where the lip or projection b is located, and the spring e is thereby thrown back, so as to lpermit the disengagement of the hook d from said lip, and the button is afterward moved away from the end of said slot or opening C, which is provided with said lip or projection b, and so that the hook d and toe a may be withdrawn through said slot or opening C.

It will be seen that through my invention I provide a very simple button-fastener, the button proper of which may be easily attached to its clasp through a narrow opening in the latter of uniform size from end to end, by wedging a toe at the end of its shank through said opening, and easily detached from its clasp by rocking said toe on the spring by which the hook is held in engagement with the lip or projection which secures it.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- The combination, with a button, A, provided with a shank, c, having at its end a rearwardly-extending hook, d, and a toe, a.,v

extending laterally from said hook d', of aiboxlike clasp-piece7 B', provided in its' face with a straight slot or opening, C, of uniform width, for the reception of the shank c of the button', and with an inwardly-extending lip, b, at one end of said slot, serving to secure the shank of the button both lengthwise and transversely in place by engaging With the hook d.,V and a Hap-spring, e, fastened at one end within the Eclasp-piece for keeping the said hook in engagement' with said; lip, and bo'wedrearwardly betweenl its ends tov assist in holding said hook transversely in place, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

J. JOHN.

Witnesses FRED. NEU, HERMAN' MEYER. 

